Here Comes the Bride: Anatomy of the Contemporary Wedding

by Jaclyn Geller

Book Overview

In Here Comes the Bride, Jaclyn Geller exposes the social forces that shape how people feel about weddings, calling into question some of the deepest-held beliefs about this tradition. Divided into... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568581939
• ISBN13: 9781568581934
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Seal Press (CA)
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Reassessing Marriage With a Critique of the Wedding Industry

This interesting, provocative overview of the American ritual of wedlock begins with dating and ends with the honeymoon. It assumes that wedlock is not natural in the way that, say, belching is, but that it is a culturally constructed phenomenon -- hardly a controversial claim, but one that many forget in our current marriage-obsessesed times. Examining the entire process through this detached, anthropological lens, the author is able to see what those embroiled in marriage -- in the marriage hunt, as she calls it -- cannot: the wedding rests on the single morally dubious belief that romantic love takes precedence over Platonic friendship. This is a valid and timely point, although it probably won't win its author any popularity contests!

An American Way with Weddings

Jaclyn Geller's excellent new book blends a finely observed social comedy with a thoughtful critique of the cultural ritual of marriage and an exposure of its complicity with the normalizing forces at large within capitalist morality. Taking the elaborate preliminaries, crises and consequences of the wedding event as her central theme, Geller's gentle irony plays over the terrifying subjection of modern woman by the systems of production and consumption. Geller is both eye-opening and vastly entertaining on the subject of marriage. Her writing is stylish, astringent and restrained, her empirical and historical research of the wedding event very full, and her insights into deeper motivations often chilling. Highly recommended for all inside or outside marriage.

A PERFUMED FOG OF ROMANCE & ILLUSION?

This first book (by a grad student at NYU) issued by a small publisher, lacking any significant ad or promotion budget , - (and if the truth be told, egregiously copyedited , with typos galore) -is getting a high-decibel spontaneous buzz.. Barely two months after publication, HERE COMES THE BRIDE is already an almost-famous book.. The reason is obvious. It raises questions that should have been raised many times in many books, but weren't., - questions that are long overdue for public discussion, but that up until now have remained almost unmentionable. It's not that the author is against marriage, but given the drastically changed and changing roles of women in our culture , she wonders exactly what the purpose of marriage is today. Understandably, many people find this book upsetting, but just about everyone finds it provocative and for some ( particularly those who are instinctively wary ) HERE COMES THE BRIDE can be a source of comfort and revelation.. For those who do marry , as most will, the realities that this book illuminates may increase their chances of making it a success. .. Alix Kates Shulman captured the spirit of HERE COMES THE BRIDE in her enthusiastic : blurb: "Like a gust of fresh air Jaclyn Geller blows away the perfumed fog of romance and illusion that obscures the nature of matrimony in the West." We all enjoy romance and illusion-- in their place, but do we really want to gamble our lives on it?? That is the central question at hand.

Amazing Read

To put it simply, I will never look at the people around me in the same way again. Since reading this book, I've begun to notice the ways that marriage affects people and the price that people pay for buying into the institution. Before "Here Comes the Bride," my views were mildly anti-marriage. Something about wedding bands, bridal showers, and white gowns gave the hives, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Jaclyn Geller remedied that quandry. Her argument against marriage was succint, well-informed, passionate, intelligent, insightful, and innovative. I've rarely read a non-fiction book that was such a page-turner. The ideas contained within "Here Comes the Bride" are powerful and life-altering. Do not read it if you aren't prepared to see male/female relationships in our society in a wholly different light.

A Provocative View of the Institution of Marriage

From beginning to end, I found myself admiring Ms. Geller's strength of mind and the cogency of her argument. What she proposes amounts to no less than a fresh critique of the institution of marriage- not only of its excesses (the big white wedding, the lavish honeymoon) but of the historical foundations on which marriage is based. The book will be controversial, but it is fearless in its willingness to ask tough questions about a ritual central to our culture that we take too much for granted.